I'm trying to work out whether the shine on the wet grip area is supposed to be water or shiny rubber.
I'm going to regret saying this, because it's another shader rabbit hole to go down (sorry if this delays the release ), but for "overexposed" shine like this, it could probably do with a subtle amount of bloom.

Just a question @Scawen, will the new light and shadow system help to create a night version? I mean, to add some lights to the cars and play it at night, because now that you guys are updating every shadow, I think that it will work very well.

As three_jump says, this is just a step in the right direction. I don't think there is time to add night version support in the next release because too many complications e.g. headlights. But what I do plan to do for now is share lighting between tracks, so each track doesn't have to just have 3 weather configs, but they can all use any of them.

I'm trying to work out whether the shine on the wet grip area is supposed to be water or shiny rubber.
I'm going to regret saying this, because it's another shader rabbit hole to go down (sorry if this delays the release ), but for "overexposed" shine like this, it could probably do with a subtle amount of bloom.

It's just an experimental water shine effect as there are sprinklers there at Rockingham but it isn't currently supported by physics.

I don't expect to add any post-processing effects at this release. I need to finish up on the lighting and shadows so I can get to sort out the tyre physics and get that to a releasable state if at all possible. I can't bear the thought of trying to merge the current changes you see in the development version, into the public version. I want to get past that point where there are two branches and I want LFS back on the right track again.

Comparisons of the latest screenshots:
I'm going to regret saying this, because it's another shader rabbit hole to go down (sorry if this delays the release ), but for "overexposed" shine like this, it could probably do with a subtle amount of bloom.

It's more looks like a lack of dynamic range in reflection.
@Scawen, Does your new render supports HDR? Because in scenarios like this, 8-bit environment textures cant handle bright reflections on low reflective smooth surface

@scawen: Might it be worth adding a disclaimer to some of the screenshots (https://lfs.net/screenshots) saying that it's WIP and not actually part of the game yet. It seems some people are getting confused about that point, seeing it as false advertising.

Can't wait until 2019, hopefully we'll get the Kyoto bugged curb fixed as a 10 year anniversary gift of "I don't give a single **** about my effectively-full-time-job and I take people who paid for my product for fools". Keep up the good job, pretty sure every single simracing platform out there now caught themselves thinking how will they maintain fleeing player base who are growing in their thousands to try out these new billboards in Blackwood.

@scawen: Might it be worth adding a disclaimer to some of the screenshots (https://lfs.net/screenshots) saying that it's WIP and not actually part of the game yet. It seems some people are getting confused about that point, seeing it as false advertising.

After reading your post I must say that I now realized that the new graphics have a pinky tone. Especially in old/new comparison it is visible:
[...]
My personal taste would be this - and I just desaturated the colors - hope you see the big difference:

I'd rather play with LFS' current/new color palette than playing Schindler's List.

I don't see any pinkish colouring in the new screenshots. It's quite saturated, but I don't see any hue on the picture.

#3 also my favorite. I like really much the colors of current LFS. Those colors make me feel happy always. Unlike the colors in Assetto Corsa, they always give a bit dark and creepy feeling - me not like.

Well, I would say no. This kind of shadow is actually also visible in real life. You will notice it when sun sets in the evening or sun rises in the morning. The shadows are sharp then. During the day, the light scatters in the sky and produces the shadows we are mostly used of: Indirect shadows.

Yes, I know there are both direct and indirect (ambient) shadows on the screenshot that I posted. What I meant is that the shape of the indirect shadow is strange, like there were holes in it around the wheels. The parts that may be considered indirect shadows from only the wheels (?) are too narrow and on the outside. BTW, the shapes of indirect shadows are probably not changed from the current public version.